If the trees in your yard are maybe not looking their best then you might decide it’s time to hire a tree surgeon to come in and help you. During your initial consultation you’ll find that most tree surgeons are eager to help and are brimming with knowledge and experience.

They will do their best to explain simply to you what is happening with your trees and what is the best course of action to rectify any problems. That being said, they are highly skilled professionals working in a field with many technical terms.

Here then is a quick run down of tree service jargon that they may – accidentally – slip into. Study this article before your first consolation and I hope you may find it useful!

Arborist Let's start with an important one! An arborist is actually the correct name for a tree surgeon.

Crown In a tree, this is the branches, twigs and leaves that extend from the trunk.

Formative Pruning This is a proactive measure, where trees and shrubs are trimmed (or pruned) early in their life to encourage healthy growth later. It primarily involves the removal of some competing parts of growth. Well performed well, it will lead to a tree that in later life is healthy and well grown.

Crown Thinning As opposed to the term above Crown Thinning is usually performed on mature trees – in particular, older trees with a lot of growth. Crown thinning essentially is employed to thin or reduce the density of a tree by removing some branches and unneeded growth.

Crown Reduction Where Crown Thinning is an overall reduction in density; Crown Reduction is targeted at a specific part of the tree to address an imbalance in growth. It’s other name, Crown Reshaping, gives a better indication of the purpose of this technique – i.e. to return the tree to a more natural and balanced overall shape.

Crown Lifting This is the removal of the lower branches of the crown, giving the appearance of the crown being lifted into the air. As with the above, primarily employed to address issues with a misshapen crown – in this case, too much lower growth.

Crown Clean Technically, this is somewhat similar to the Crown Thinning technique mentioned above, in as much as this a technique for removing density from the crown. However in this instance is it not simply growth of the tree itself that is removed – although some of the removal may be of tree growth. Here though, in addition to trimming the tree itself the tree surgeon will also remove additional unwanted material that is adding to the density of the tree. This may be foreign objects such as old bird nests or invasive, climbing plants like Poison Ivy.

Trimming The removal of softer growth toward the very outside edges of growth. New leaves, small twigs, softer and smaller branches.

Pruning More selective than trimming, pruning refers to the cutting of branches. This could be one single branch, or it could be an entire tree.

These are just a few of the technical terms and jargon a tree surgeon may accidentally slip into – although these are by far the most common.

Brush up on these terms and it may help during your consultation. That being said however, never hesitate to ask for an explanation if the tree surgeon uses a term or phrase you don’t understand – they will always be happy to explain further!